Related Links

Contact Us

Barlow Award Recipients

2018 Recipients

Read on to learn more about how the 2018 Barlow recipients spent the summer:

Erica Beck, Anthropology BS, Museum Studies minor

Barlow Experience: CWU Archaeological Field School

This experience was amazing. I have always dreamed of doing an archaeological field school and receiving the Barlow award helped me to achieve this dream. It was so surreal. I experienced and learned so much in addition to meeting new people, and the Barlow award allowed this opportunity to be possible for me.

Sofía I. Castro-Loza, Primate Behavior MS

Barlow Experience: Ethnoprimatology of Urban Cebus albifrons: An Evaluation of Human-Nonhuman Interactions and Local Perceptions in Misahullí, Ecuador

Having the opportunity to conduct my thesis research in South America is definitely the highlight of my studies to this day. I got to immerse myself in the culture of people from Waorani and Kichwa decent and their perception of the monkeys that live in their town all while studying the interactions that urban white capuchin monkeys have with locals and tourists that visit Puerto Misahuallí. I am very grateful to have received the Pete & Sandra Barlow Award because it made it possible for me to spend a month and a half in la amazonía, Ecuador studying the human-nonhuman interface.

This summer I traveled to Quebec, Canada to intern at the Fauna Foundation. It has been an amazing and invaluable experience, where I have been able to participate in husbandry tasks like preparing meals and enrichment. I have also been collecting data for my master's thesis, which focuses on the effect of sound on chimpanzees. The Barlow Award assisted in paying for internship and equipment fees, while also giving me the opportunity to stay at the Fauna Foundation for an additional two months. I am endlessly grateful to Pete and Sandra Barlow for their generosity in funding my time here, it has been amazing!

My internship at Riverside was an incredible experience. It enabled me to work closely with baboons and vervet monkeys and taught me valuable captive husbandry skills. Working with the monkeys and meeting people from all over the world was amazing and I will never forget my time spent there. If it weren't for the Barlow Award, I would not have had the funds to participate in this exotic internship, so thank you!

Ruth Linsky, Primate Behavior MS

Barlow Experience: Orangutan STR DNA Analysis

The Barlow Award allowed me to complete this microsatellite marker fingerprinting analysis as a part of my master’s research into the genetic relatedness within a wild population of Bornean orangutans. Without these funds, this important part of my thesis work would not have been possible. Many thanks to the Barlow's and the department for granting these funds and making this work possible.

Through conducting archaeological fieldwork over the summer of 2018, I was able to gain a much better understanding of the field of archeology as it is practiced today. It was a great pleasure to learn about prehistoric native populations in the Central Washington area, and the experience could be quite powerful at times. It was also the experience of working with my fellow students that strengthened my ability to work as a team, especially in building and maintaining team member cohesion. Through this field school I was able to determine a much more clear path for my future in archaeology.

Rachel E. Parrish, Anthropology BA

Barlow Experience: CWU Forensic Anthropology Field School

During this field school, I got to experience what a job on a forensic case is like both in the field and in the lab. I learned and practiced techniques with excavation, mapping, and documentation, and in the lab, I was able to gain practice in research, observation, and organization in a forensic setting. At the end of this field school, I was able to present the findings of my group, doing our best to explain our project in a manner that was both understandable and thorough, as it would need to be in an official forensic context. The rigors of this field school barely scrapes the surface of the intensity of forensic anthropology, but there is nothing quite like hands-on learning!

Caroline Rowley, Primate Behavior MS

Barlow Experience: Acoustic Analysis of Nomascus Songs as a Potential Measure of Current Health Status

My research at the Endangered Primate Rescue Center in Vietnam was a valuable experience. Over three months, I was able to collect over one hundred complete song bouts from the individuals I studied. I look forward to analyzing these songs and completing my project! As an emerging researcher, the opportunity to conduct my own research and make adjustments in the field has been a worthwhile experience. Additionally, forming connections with other conservationists and researchers who have similar or complimentary interests will be beneficial in future projects and collaborations. The Pete and Sandra Barlow award funded my housing as well as some of the necessary equipment for my research. I’m extremely grateful for their support in making my field experience possible!

This summer I was able to collect and analyze samples in the Peruvian Amazon to evaluate health trends in two species of tamarins. The Barlow Award was incredibly helpful to me in acquiring the lab supplies necessary to collect these data abroad.

Destiny Towery, Anthropology BS

Barlow Experience: Independent research project at a burial site in Salango, Ecuador

Without the Barlow award I would not have been able to travel down to Ecuador. Since the trip was out of pocket for myself, my financial situation would not have allowed me to participate in the amazing experience I had outside of the country. This was my first time out of the country and my first time being able to do hands-on work in my field of interest, which made it an invaluable opportunity.

2017 Recipients

Read on to learn more about how the 2017 Barlow recipients spent the summer:

Elizabeth Cook, Primate Behavior MS

Barlow Experience: OPR Coastal Primate Sanctuary Internship

I was an intern at OPR Coastal Primate Sanctuary in Longview, WA. I assisted the founders/caregivers with cleaning, feeding, and enrichment. I also assisted with picking up two new macaques that were retired to OPR and getting them settled in their new home. With these two additions, OPR currently houses 17 primates (mostly macaques). This was a fantastic experience and I learned a lot about captive macaque behavior and caring for primates in a sanctuary setting. The Barlow award covered tuition and transport allowing me to focus on learning.

This summer I traveled to Canada where I spent ten weeks interning at a chimpanzee sanctuary. I gained valuable hands-on experience as a chimpanzee caregiver, including cleaning and preparing meals and enrichment. I also leanred about chimpanzee behavior and collected data for a research project on enrichment use. The Barlow Award covered a portion of the costs, which allowed for this amazing opportunity.

This study investigated an aging population of seven chimpanzees who were retired from biomedical research. This group of chimpanzees is especially interesting because of their unique group composition, varying life histories, and important connections with human caregivers. Specifically, this project looked at the social relationships within the chimpanzee and chimpanzee-caregiver societies to aid in sanctuary policy, husbandry, and expansion, as well as investigate the theoretical underpinnings and statistical representations of dominance relationships in this unique group of chimpanzees.

Receiving the 2017 Pete & Sandra Barlow Award has been instrumental in carrying out my master's thesis research at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. Because of this support, I've been able to focus on collecting this data without financial strain. This project, along with other projects supported by the Barlow Award (2015/2016), has enabled my continued investigation of captive primate welfare while challenging and developing my research ability; doing so will make me a more competitive applicant for Ph.D. programs and ensure I'm able to perpetuate the understanding of dynamic primate systems (social, structural, welfare and otherwise). Thank you to Pete and Sandra Barlow for their continued support of my education and research!

This project was conducted at the Centre for Animal Rehabilitation and Education (C.A.R.E.) in the Limpopo province in South Africa. The Pete and Sandra Barlow award helped ensure that I could pay for the equipment used during my research and provided some of the funds used towards lodging during my stay, and therefore was a vital component of my research. I spent eight weeks observing four captive Chacma baboons and their interactions with caretakers at the site. I am trying to determine if these interactions can be altered and adjusted to ensure the highest poosible welfare for captive Chacma baboons.

Darian Johnson, Anthropology BA; Law and Justice, BA

Barlow Experience: Archaeological field work in coastal Ecuador

This field school was a wonderful opportunity to go out into the real world and learn new techniques that are difficult to practice in a classroom setting. We worked in groups to learn how to identify, document, map and excavate an actual archaeological site. Along the way, we also ran into several obstacles that we needed to overcome, such as language barriers, cultural differences, and very large spiders. But over the 6 weeks we learned how to adapt to these new challenges to complete out work more effectively. All in all, it was an incredible learning experience. Unfortunately, flying to another country for a field school is quite expensive. I wasn't sure that I would have enough money to go on this trip, but thanks to the Pete & Sandra Barlow award, I was able to comfortably afford the chance to participate in this fantastic field school.

This research took place at the Gibbon Conservation Center in Santa Clarita, California. I focused on the interactions between mated adult pairs. This is important research to help conservation efforts in programs that want to release gibbons back into the wild. The Pete and Sandra Barlow award aided in these conservation efforts by making this research possible. It covered research fees and housing at the center. I am so grateful for this award so I could conduct my research.

Thanks to the Barlow Award, I was able to purchase critical genetics kits, reagents, and equipment to employ a cutting-edge methodology utilizing passively collected fecal samples and next-generation sequencing. These funds allowed me to begin work on perfecting and verifying the methods towards my master's research to acquire an unprecedented level of detail into individual orangutans' genomes and insight into the population of critically endangered orangutans at the world famous, Camp Leakey.

I feel privileged to have worked with the rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) of Cayo Santiago in my homeland, Puerto Rico. I studied how the adult male-immature relationships may be related to stress behavior indicators (e.g., scratches). The Caribbean Primate Center's fees are far from my budget, and I also had to pay for many other things while there (e.g., meals and lodging). The Barlow Award made my project's budget more bearable. I am grateful to be a recipient of this award that helped me to complete my field work.

Amanda Osborne, Primate Behavior MS

Barlow Experience: Enrichment Assessment for Geriatric Old World Monkeys Under Human Care

For this research, I collected observational, behavioral data from geriatric and young monkeys including Allen's swamp monkeys, De Brazza's monkeys and mandrills. I observed these monkeys for eight weeks at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon. During this extended period of time, I was able to stay near the zoo to conduct research, due to the funding of the 2017 Pete and Sandra Barlow Scholarship. Thank you!

Blanca Ponce, Primate Behavior MS

Barlow Experience: Preparing the Yucatan black howler monkey for its return to the wild and assessment of Wildtrack's approach to rehabilitation and release

I am eternally grateful to Pete and Sandra Barlow for their generosity. This award contributed to my very first field excursion and helped me further develop my skills as a primatologist. Pete and Sandra Barlow's award also contributed to Wildtrack's conservation efforts in Belize and helped to provide a better quality of life for monkeys that have been victims of the illegal pet trade.